Newsletter

Austin Meek: Wait a while on K-State predictions

-- I'll need some help with this, but I would like to propose a one-month moratorium on predictions, judgments and conclusions pertaining to K-State's basketball team. Think of it like an early Lent.

Everyone loves a soap opera, and K-State has given people plenty to discuss. And while I normally support unfettered public discourse, can we all agree this is getting a bit ridiculous?

If you assemble all the snapshots, K-State has been a Final Four favorite, a bubble team, a complete trainwreck, a team on the rebound, a team in turmoil, a team on the rebound (again) and a hopeless disappointment. And those are just lines from my columns.

Hey, everyone is entitled to an opinion or four. If people didn't enjoy discussing sports, I'd probably be writing greeting card messages, and besides, K-State has invited this kind of scrutiny by continuing to ensnare itself in drama.

But at this point, it seems like the smart approach is to wait and see what happens. If Frank Martin has lost the team, it will become apparent in the next four weeks. If he hasn't, that will become apparent, too, and we'll all have plenty of time to analyze what it means.

Until then, everyone find a new hobby. Go read a book or something.

-- On the subject of recruiting, Bill Snyder sounds like someone trying to install an HD-TV.

Snyder was talking about early scholarship offers, which have become the norm in college recruiting. Snyder has expressed reservations about offering scholarships to high school juniors, but it doesn't sound like he's ready to discontinue the practice.

"I'm uncomfortable with it, certainly," Snyder said. "But as I said, I don't have the answer to it yet."

-- If you do nothing else, you had better recruit a quarterback. K-State recruited two — junior college transfer Justin Tuggle and high school athlete Daniel Sams — and both appear to have potential.

"I think the similarities are probably what most people would tend to refer to as dual (threat) type quarterbacks, the kind of quarterbacks that we laid the foundation with," Snyder said. "They can run the ball and throw the ball."

Snyder said he expects a three-way competition at quarterback in spring drills. That presumably would include Tuggle, Collin Klein and Sammuel Lamur. Sams is scheduled to arrive on campus June 1.

-- Snyder always says recruiting classes can't be accurately evaluated until two or three years later, which prompted us to look back at K-State's 2009 class, the first of Snyder's second stint.

Two years later, the results are mixed. The class yielded safeties Emmanuel Lamur, Troy Butler and Ty Zimmerman, all of whom have started at various points. It also included tight end Andre McDonald and receiver Tramaine Thompson, who was a starter last season before getting hurt.

Of the 17 recruits K-State signed in 2010, three — left tackle Manase Foketi, linebacker Tre Walker and defensive tackle Ray Kibble — saw regular duty this year, while transfers Chris Harper and Brodrick Smith also contributed at wide receiver.

Austin Meek covers Kansas State University athletics for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at austin.meek@cjonline.com.